Dear Cornerstone Family,
Greetings and blessings to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Two weeks ago, we announced a forthcoming officer nomination season. To help you prepare for this important season, we encouraged you to set aside time to read and reflect on the biblical qualifications for the offices of elder and deacon from 1 Timothy 3:1-13 and Titus 1:5-9. In addition, we requested you carefully read the Cornerstone Officer Nomination Booklet, which includes key information about the officer nomination process, timeline, and training, as well as the elder and deacon job descriptions for the church. If you missed the booklet, it can be found this morning at both entrances to the chapel.
Starting today and continuing until Sunday, October 5, you can submit the names of qualified men for either the office of elder or deacon. There is a link to electronic nomination form on our church website. In addition, there are paper nomination forms available at each entrance to the chapel and labeled boxes for submitting your officer nominations. If you have any questions about the process or need help submitting a nomination, please contact our Church Life Coordinator, Dan Fiedler, at dan@cstonepres.org. I am looking forward to seeing how the Lord might use this process to identify and grow the officer corps of Cornerstone Presbyterian Church.
Now, I want to take a few minutes to update you on the Ministry Expansion efforts and ask for your help. If you’re a member of Cornerstone, you received an electronic message on August 28 informing you that we are actively pursuing a particular midterm expansion opportunity to address our present space concerns. Since that original message, the midterm expansion opportunity I referenced continues to be a live opportunity we are actively pursuing. Please continue to pray for the Lord to lead us as we pursue this opportunity either by continuing to show positive movement forward or by closing the door and directing us to look elsewhere.
While we pursue a midterm opportunity, we are keeping our eyes on the long-term goal: to secure a building or land for a new church campus within our current geographic area. In the last five months, our Ministry Expansion Team has diligently pursued every viable opportunity that has presented itself. At this point, however, there is no land or existing church/structure for sale that we’ve identified that is suitable to meet Cornerstone’s long-term goal.
So, today, on the behalf of the elders, I am making an appeal to you. If you own land or know of land (or a church or a structure) within roughly a five-to-seven-mile radius of downtown Franklin that could help us reach our long-term goal, we would love to hear from you. Based on our estimations, we’re looking for at least a ten-acre parcel of land. If you have any leads, you can reach out to Will Kesler, Chairman of our Ministry Expansion Team, at wfkesler1@gmail.com.
Over the last 14 years, I’ve witnessed you step up time and again to meet the needs of our growing body. Frankly, it’s been astonishing to watch you sacrificially give and serve in order see the ministry of this church grow and the vision be further realized. Knowing how great our God is and the beautiful story of generosity He’s been telling through you, it seems right to once again come to you, God’s people, to help us search for a permanent long-term location for Cornerstone Presbyterian Church.
Thank you for taking this appeal seriously and for helping us think, consider, and pray for God’s provision. I can’t wait to see what the Lord has in store, for this I am certain of—the best is yet to come.
Grace & Peace,
